Sleep Well, Don’t Fail!

For most of us, a few more hours in the day are just what the doctor ordered, but is it really? When we need more time in the day, we just short ourselves a couple of hours of sleep here and there. We go to bed later and get up earlier to catch up on things that need to be done, but at what cost?

“The Science of Happiness,” a free online course offered by the Indiana Department of Education in collaboration with Butler University, offers many examples of why sleep is so important to our success. The course outlines several ways to get a good night’s sleep and why it is so important to our health and wellbeing.

Over 20 years of research suggests that you must enter into a deep sleep to gain the full benefits. Research suggests that your bedroom be dark, cool, and quiet and that you eliminate caffeine after 2:00 p.m. If you don’t get enough deep sleep, or your sleep is interrupted, the benefits of your rest will not carry you through the day.

In addition, if you are able to take a quick nap during the day, research from author Daniel Pink suggests that you can also capitalize that, as well. By shortening the time you nap to 10-15 minutes, you won’t allow your body to enter a phase called sleep inertia, and instead will awake refreshed and alert. Daniel goes into more detail in his book titled “WHEN: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing.”

To learn more or take the sleep survey to see how your sleep habits hold up to the research, visit https://www.doe.in.gov/sebw.

Sweet dreams!